Deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Chaudhry Iftikhar has been awarded the life time membership of New York Bar here on Tuesday, Geo T.V. reported.
According to sources, deposed CJP said addressing the New York Bar the lawyer would continue their struggle until the success of their movement and added that war on terrorism in Pakistan could never be accomplished without the independent judiciary.
He thanked for receiving lifetime membership of NYB and termed it an honor for him.
Earlier, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, deposed chief justice of Pakistan, was given a rousing citizens’ reception in New York on Sunday night. Some Pakistanis had travelled from as far away as California and various points in Canada to welcome the deposed judge, who arrived here earlier in the day to receive a number of awards.
The meeting arranged in his honour at a Brooklyn restaurant was jampacked but those who were expecting the judge to speak were disappointed when it was pointed out to them by Aitzaz Ahsan, who is here to attend these events and a Middle East conference in Washington, that because Chaudhry was still the chief justice of Pakistan, he could only address bar associations.
On arrival at JFK airport, Justice Chaudhry was received by a raucous crowd of around 500 as well as Pakistan’s Consul-General in New York, Mohsin Razi, who had been instructed by Ambassador Husain Haqqani to accord full protocol to the arriving dignitary. “The Embassy of Pakistan honours all important Pakistani citizens, regardless of their affiliations,” the ambassador told Daily Times.
Ahsan, in a spirited address, which was repeatedly interrupted by applause and full-throated slogans, called on the government to reinstate the chief justice and other independent judges. He added that the lawyers’ struggle would continue until such time as this goal was achieved. “We’ll not rest content until the pre-November 3, 2007, independent judiciary is restored,” he said.
Chaudhry, Ahsan declared, has become a symbol of the independence of judiciary and it is to his credit that all along, he has maintained judicial restraint. He has chosen not to respond to criticism either, emanating from those who attack him through statements or on television talk shows. Ahsan said without the chief justice’s return to his post, there will never be an independent judiciary in Pakistan, because only independent judges and an independent court system can fight corruption and lend strength to democracy.